Nothing More Nothing Less
by makennagrace
Summary: "Now that I have someone to live for, I fully expect her to return the favor." When you find your reason for living, you do everything in your power to keep it safe. But nothing is ever that simple, especially for Jasper. AU


**Hello and welcome! This is my first attempt at a full length story. The first chapter is mainly setting up the story, and if you can get through this one, you'll be fine with the rest :) I won't make this AN extremely long, but there is more to this story than what is on the surface, it just takes time to get here. I hate rushed stories, so I am trying not to do that. And I can't even begin to explain all that goes on, while there is humor to this story, there will be depth, I promise ha ha! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

**SM owns all characters, I just like to play with them :)**

As the wind picked up, it blew through her hair causing her scent to carry to me even stronger than it was before. I closed my eyes briefly and inhaled deeply. The scent would be forever burned into my memory from now on. I had to do everything in my power to get accustomed to it; there could be no accidents with her.

I watched her from the forest behind the park trying my best not to feel like some creepy bastard, but in reality, that's what I was. Spying on a five-year-old girl, feeling like Jack Hansen was going to pop out from behind the shrubbery at any minute. I cursed inwardly at Alice for this. That manipulative midget had to go and make things complicated for me, just when I thought my life was finally settling down. Her visions of the future were mainly based on decisions, but sometimes she would get a glimpse of things that had not been decided upon, and that was the reason for my current creeper status behind the park. The intriguing five year old girl, Bella Swan, would grow up to be my mate. Only after much insistence from my "sister" did I start my career in stalking. Alice informed me that I had to get myself accustomed to her scent so by the time she was old enough, my bloodlust would not be a hindrance.

Normally, my instincts would tell me to run as far away from the little girl as I could possibly get, but Alice spoke of this girl with such reverence, it was clear that she loved her already. She told me of how happy I would finally be, all because of this one little human that would grow up and make my dead heart feel as if it could start beating once again. Even with all of her assurance, I was still reluctant. Of course I wanted a mate; I had spent the first large part of my vampire life as a monster. I had thought that Maria was my mate, but I was nothing but her toy. She used me because of my ability, and she eventually grew to love me, in a sick and twisted way. It started out as lust; we were just convenient bodies to use and abuse. But she started to depend on me for more than just training and killing her newborns. She became possessive and things took a turn for the worse. I had long since gotten sick of my duties, and being an empath made my job extremely difficult. I could feel everything from the ones that I was ordered to kill, it was taking its toll on me. I wanted out, I was tired of being the unfeeling monster that Maria had trained me to be. Luckily a friend I had made helped me out, and a few decades later, Alice found me and introduced me into the new way of living. I can't say that I deserve happiness, because I don't, but the thought of having a true mate changed something in me irrevocably.

So the past few months, I have been tailing this young girl, and basically huffing her scent like some kind of junkie. _That's right Mr. and Mrs. Swan, I'm gonna be your future son in law, insert finger point and tongue click here. Add in a wink if you dare, you know you want to_. I was brought back from my own musings when I noticed Bella had moved. From what I could tell, she wasn't your ordinary five year old. She was extremely intelligent, and very intuitive. She would come to this park with her mother every day, and instead of heading for the various slides or monkey bars, she would grab a book, and sit under the large tree that separated the park from the forest. She would read until her mother, Renee, would inform her that it was time to go. Renee often complained about bringing her to the park if all she was going to do was read, but Bella told her that it was her favorite part of the day. That seemed to be enough for her scatter-brained mother to continue their ritual. The thing that had been bothering me about Bella was how she would randomly look over her shoulder, as if she knew that I was there. Every time she did it, she would look in the exact direction that I would be. I rationally knew that she couldn't see me, I had always made sure of that, but it was unsettling to say the least. Not to mention the fact that I could barely ever register her emotions. They were there, but so faint that I would really have to concentrate to pick up the slightest feeling. Often times I couldn't feel anything at all, and for some reason, that fact scared the shit out of me.

When the time had come for Bella and her mother to go home, she once again looked in my direction. Her little eyebrows furrowed for a second, and she looked as if she were staring right at me. I mentally kicked myself when I realized that I tried to stand perfectly still, as if not to alert her of my presence. _Because if you stand perfectly still, people will not notice you. Makes perfect sense._ I nearly face-palmed myself as Bella turned around to head home. I ran ahead of them making sure there was no danger, because now that I have someone to live for, I fully expect her to return the favor.

Just in the few short months that I have been playing your friendly neighborhood perv, Bella has managed to almost kill herself biweekly. There is only so much I can do without alerting someone of my presence, so I have to be super creative in how I saved her. Like the time that Alice called me to inform me that Bella was going to be hit by a car while crossing the street at the crosswalk to get to her school. Renee knew Bella was mature enough to cross one street, especially because there was a crossing guard that would always cross with her. Unfortunately, Renee didn't realize that her daughter was a danger magnet. So because I couldn't just run up and snatch her (because that would graduate me from perv to pedophile for sure) I had to improvise. I knew that it was just one car that would be speeding down the street with no other cars behind them, and I knew that this man was drunk from the previous night. He deserved to have a wake-up call, and because this was happening much faster than I had anticipated, I had to act fast. I knocked over a tree a good thirty yards from the crosswalk. In my defense, I picked an old rotted tree that looked like it could have fallen by natural causes. Give me some credit. The man survived, and so did Bella and Winston, the crossing guard. I can't say the same for the tree.

The Swan's lived in a nice two-story home that shared its backyard with the expansive forest behind it. Bella's father Charlie was the chief of police, and always made mention of fencing it off, but never got around to actually doing it. Lucky for me, because I was just behind the monstrous oak tree at the first clearing. I heard Renee and Bella enter their home and Renee informed Bella that her father would be a little late coming home and that she was going to attempt to cook him a decent dinner. From what I could tell, Renee and cooking was something to fear. It was a constant joke between Bella and Charlie. I listened as Bella told her mom that she was going to play in the backyard before it started to get too cold. Renee told her to stay close to the house, and the next thing I heard was the back door opening and closing.

I had never actually seen Bella close up; I always kept a good distance from her for a few reasons. The first being that her scent was almost sickeningly sweet, and it made my mouth water even from a distance in the very beginning, and I didn't trust myself to get any closer. The other reason was because I felt like I shouldn't be close to her at all until she was older. All joking aside, I wasn't really a perv; I had no desire for this young girl. I felt dirty for following her around the way that I did, and anything closer would make me feel even worse. But if I was going to eventually fall in love with a human, I would rather not kill her the second she comes to hug me, I needed the constant reminder of her scent.

Bella's emotions picked up then, as she was walking directly toward me. This little girl was determined as all hell. I instinctively kept hidden, but she stopped in the middle of the forest opening and looked around. All around me I could hear the birds that were chirping, the squirrels that were running around, and the random insect that would fly past, but her heartbeat was the loudest sound of all. She seemed to be concentrating, and then she spun quickly and faced the direction I was in once again. This five year old terrified me.

"I know you are out there, I can't see you, but I can feel you." She said quietly. _Shit, fuck, balls! What do I do?_ I was about to haul ass when I stopped myself. _I'm Jasper fucking Whitlock, I am NOT afraid of a five year old. _

"I feel you around me almost all the time, so I don't think it's fair you can see me and I can't see you. Come out," She demanded. _Nice try, princess. Jasper fucking Whitlock doesn't obey children_. She waited for a few minutes and slowly started walking deeper into the forest.

"You have been around long enough to know how clumsy I am. I'm gonna walk farther and farther until you come out and stop me." She called. _She had a point..._

"And I've never been in these woods before, so I'm pretty sure I'll get lost pretty quickly. And then it will get dark and cold. And there are animals out here that can eat me. Mommy gets distracted cooking so she might not know I'm gone, and I don't know how long it will take Daddy to get home." She was walking farther in as she practically taunted me. This kid was too smart for her own good. Clearly she would get scared eventually and stop_. Hopefully_. She stopped walking in a direct line, and started walking off to the left, and from the faint emotions I could read, she was doing this on purpose. She wanted to get lost. She was calling me out. _The nerve of this midget!_

"I'm good and lost now; I think I'm just going to sit on this scary looking tree that's fallen over. Look at the pretty water running underneath it. It sure looks fast," She called out cheekily. Damn it, she had me. She was quite a ways from her house; there was a small river that ran through these woods, small enough for an adult to not worry, but not a five year old. I couldn't let this go any farther; I was shocked I'd let her get this far. I stepped out from behind the tree, and even though she wasn't facing me, and I'm a stealthy fucker, she knew I was there. She stopped walking but didn't turn right away.

"Come on darlin, let's get you home." I said softly. This was the closest I've ever been to her, and my bloodlust was actually in check. I almost did a happy dance, and then I remembered that badass Texans do NOT happy dance. She finally turned and I got my first good look at her. Her hair fell into waves around her face, and it was the color of rich mahogany. Her milk chocolate eyes were large and knowing. She was very pale, but I had known from watching her for a while that she blushed a faint pink at nearly everything. She was an adorable little girl, and although her intent behind the smile was evil, it was the most innocent smile I had ever witnessed. Anyone could obviously tell that she was going to grow into a beautiful young lady years down the road.

"Hi," She said, almost sounding shy. I chuckled lightly.

"Howdy," I joked. She looked at me intently; she even cocked her head to the side a little. I tried to suppress my smile.

"Before we go anywhere I want answers," She said with confidence.

"Why don't we walk and talk?" I asked. I wanted to get her back home before they came looking for her. I started towards her house and she soon fell in step beside me.

"What's your name?" She asked. I was going to lie, but I couldn't. I literally couldn't force the lie to come out.

"Jasper," I answered feeling ashamed that, once again, a child defeated me.

"How come you follow me?" She asked. _Crap!_ I had to lie about this. Somehow, saying something like 'you and I are going to fall madly in love in the future' didn't seem like the best route.

"To keep you safe, silly. Or haven't you noticed how clumsy you are?" I tried. She stopped walking, and I did as well. Her eyes bore into mine, I felt like she could read every thought I had ever had, I didn't like this vulnerable feeling. If she could make me feel this way at five, what the hell was I in for when she was older?

"Are you my guardian angel?" She asked. _Oh, sweet child, I am quite the opposite_.

"I'm not an angel," I answered quietly. She picked up on my disposition quickly.

"You aren't bad though, I can tell," She smiled. I smiled at her to make her feel better, I was having a hard time believing she was only five; she was more intelligent than any five year old should be.

"Listen Bella, you have to do something for me, and it is really important that you do." I said. I needed to make sure that she wouldn't tell anyone about this. There was too much at stake, and I didn't want people to start to worry about a man that was following young girls and luring them into the woods. That wouldn't be the best way to get her parents to love me. She nodded seriously.

"Okay, I will," She agreed.

"You can't tell anyone about me okay? After today, you won't see me for a long time, and I can't have you putting yourself in danger so I will come out." I started.

"How come I won't see you for a long time?" Bella asked. I could feel sadness pouring off of her in waves, and we had just officially met. I felt terrible.

"Because we weren't supposed to meet until you're older. You'll understand later in life," I managed. I was no good at talking to children. This was going terribly.

"How old will I be when I see you again?" She asked. We were getting closer to the house, so I would have to be going soon.

"When you're seventeen, I'll come out again," I said softly.

"Twelve years from now?" She yelled in outrage. I was hoping she didn't know math that well, but of course she is way ahead of everything.

"I know it seems long, but that's the way it has to be," I answered with a sympathetic smile.

"What happens if something goes wrong? What if I die, or what if you do?" She asked frantically.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you darlin," I promised. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to stay in Forks long, but Alice was very in tune with Bella, so I would know of any chance of danger Bella would face later on.

"What about you?" She asked.

"I'm not going anywhere," I said softly, trying to get her to lower her voice as well. She seemed to believe me after a minute and finally relaxed.

"So which age are you?" She asked. That seemed like an uncommon way of phrasing the question.

"What?" I asked.

"Well your body looks a certain age, but your eyes look a lot older," She said on a whisper. I froze, yet again rendered speechless at the maturity of this young girl. I ignored the question because we were right at the entrance of the forest. We could see her house from here. I stopped walking and lowered myself to her level.

"I have to go now, Bella." I said softly.

"I don't want you to go," She said, looking down instead of at me.

"You'll see me again later, but you have to promise me you won't tell anyone. If you tell, I won't be able to see you ever again. I'll have to go away for good," I said seriously. She finally met my eyes.

"I promise I won't say anything," She vowed. I smiled at her.

"See you later, Bella," I said as I got up.

"Jasper," She called. I turned to look at her.

"Thank you for always saving me," She said quietly, and took off running to her house. I smiled and took my place back in the forest, waiting for my cue from Alice.

**Please let me know what you think. The next chapter should be posted soon. But PLEASE review! :)**


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